As the number of electric vehicles continues to increase, smart charge management (SCM) solutions can enable the use of electric vehicles as a grid asset to improve overall grid efficiencies and defer capacity expansions/upgrades. Understanding the value of smart charge management approaches for utility operations and customers is critical for widespread implementation of these approaches to help mitigate cost and system impacts.

The panel will provide insights on the Department of Energy’s goals and objectives for smart charge management solutions and will feature four diverse projects that were strategically selected and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office (DOE VTO) to accelerate the scalability of utility-led managed charging approaches that enabled the use of EVs as grid assets by controlling the charge rate and time of charging on grid conditions.

The panel will provide a broad spectrum as each project utilized different approaches, explored different use cases, and worked with different solution providers. Participants in the SCM demonstrations include residential customers; utility owned AC L2 and DCFC sites; light, medium, and heavy-duty EV fleets; and public charging sites in parking garages and transportation centers. Aspects include optimization of charging on a circuit at the asset level for increased grid resiliency and maintenance of system assets, aligning charging based on on/off peak utility rates and RTO day ahead price forecasts, and utilization of reinforcement learning as a price modifier to adjust charging power. Results that will be shared can inform other utilities developing and proposing their own SCM solutions extending the knowledge learned to advance scalable, durable solutions that harness the value of EV charging flexibility.